IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In 2012, 1 168 403 live births were registered at the Department of Home Affairs. This represents a 2,8% decline from the 1 202 377 births registered in 2011.  In total, 79,3% of the births registered in 2012 were births that occurred during the same year (current births) and 20,7% were late registrations.

The average number of births occurring in South Africa every year is around 971 thousand. Nearly 930 thousand births that occurred in 2012 were registered by 28 February 2013. Most of these births occurred to women aged 20–29 years. There were slightly more male children born than female children. Provincially, more births occurred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal than other provinces.